LOSE IT! November 2020

[TheRealHousewife]

Hello & Welcome

Roughly 8 weeks to Christmas 🎄. We all know it’s been a strange unsettling year. Unprecedented. Nonetheless we all deserve to feel the best we can, be the best we can and strive to be as fit and healthy as possible. Not only will you look great in your finery, you’ll be (to a degree) improving your immune system and your ability to fight infection should you get one. In addition, if we eat right, get outside, move more your mental health will heap the rewards. Better mental health = better choices. It becomes a self fulfilling prophecy.

Me personally? In the main it’s been a way of life for nearly 3 years and I’ve lost over 40lbs. I had a bit of blip at the start of C19. After all my hard work I just started eating with impunity. Before I knew it I was10lbs up in a few short weeks! I needed to get back on it and COVID proof myself 😬 I calorie count, log via MFP app, Intermittent fast, eat-low carb Mediterranean style aka Fast800 Plan and try to stay well hydrated. Due to some unfortunate circumstances in October I didn’t really lose but did maintain. I’m hoping November will see me firmly in the healthy BMI bracket.

There are so many enjoyable lifestyle options out there without the need to resort to extreme measures. Whatever way you choose, it needs to be enjoyable & sustainable for the long term. This is a long term commitment rather than a quick fix. I also rarely drink alcohol and keep sugar to a minimum. I exercise by doing walking vids & strength sessions with lite weighs.

As no one size fits all members need to follow their own way of eating. Nonetheless this thread aims to offer guidance, support and a bit of hand holding.

There is no shaming, competition or harsh words to be found on this thread. We are in this together.

Useful Links

How to lose weight

The Fast Diet

Mediterranean Diet

My Fitness Pal

Intermittent Fasting

Mindful Eating

Meal Planning

Drink Water

Nutrition & Mental Health

Jump right in! If you’re not too shy, post a bit about yourself 😊. How do you plan to do it? What do you want to achieve? What excites you about your future self? Together, we can create a whole new you!

You’ll be glad you got on board this time next month 😀.

Today has been a write off diet wise. It's my birthday, so I spent the day on the sofa and had a small mountain of Chinese take away for dinner. No regrets. Tomorrow will pick up again.

@SunshineCake I am glad to hear hospital is happy with DS' blood results. Great news.
@FatGirlShrinking gosh, that's a pain. I would definitely go above his head, in writing. Stay strong.
@LH1987 that's an excellent plan. I am installing MFP to count calories starting from tomorrow. Will keep a diary to begin with to see how much I am actually eating and then take it from there.

@LH1987

Hi *@slightlybonkers*, that’s brilliant . What is IF?!

Intermittent fasting.

Happy birthday @Mc3209

And thank you.

MP3209 Happy, happy birthday. You deserve many treats.🥳🎂🍰🎁

@LH1987 I kinda accidentally do IF. You pick a window to eat in and stick to it.

So if your window is 11am to 7pm you don't have breakfast, have lunch and an early dinner then no evening snacks.

There are different fasting lengths, so some people do it on days like 5:2 where 5 days a week you eat normally and 2 days you eat very very low calorie 600-700 cals.

Some do 16:8 like me and @SunshineCake where you eat during an 8 hour window eat day and just have water or black tea/coffee outside that window.

I say i do it accidentally because I don't like eating breakfast and we always have dinner about 5.30pm with DD (6yo) so the only real difference is not snacking in the late evening.

@SunshineCake I was hoping it would be a miracle fat burning herbal substance newly discovered in the rainforest. Oh well....

Actually it might work for me because I also don’t eat breakfast @FatGirlShrinking. Definitely one to think about!

I eat lunch between 12.30-1pm, snack at 3 and dinner at six and that is it.

Good Morning All

How’s everyone? The heatwave they promised us must be behind the mist & clouds. Still foggy mist here. I still intend to go for my short walk 😬.

Menu today is lunch home made chicken soup (same as yesterday) and home made chicken curry and spicy chicken rice 🍛 I’ll be clucking by bedtime.

I forgot to weigh myself today before I had my bath and got dressed but that's fine. I'm not holding myself too strictly to anything. My belt is looser today at the second notch so that's a good thing. I was up to the 4th notch in the summer so it's a good guide. I have IBS so I bloat a lot but not when I eat healthier and don't over fill my belly.

I walked quite a bit yesterday so my when i felt like a snack last night while watching telly I ate a little of my exercise calories. I know they say that weight is lost in the kitchen not at the gym but it does give a little more leeway.

I am enjoying doing MFP again. And sort of mindful eating. I was reading my book today while i had breakfast which i know is a nono with proper mindful eating but it helped me to slow down and enjoy each mouthful.
Gf toast today with avocado, lemon juice, pepper and pumkin seeds.
Logging it all on MFP makes me think about what I'm putting on my plate. So, on two smallish sices of toast I would normally put a whole avocado. But then find it too much taste wise. But i think its a healthy food so it's okay. Which it is of course but I have a habit of eating too much of things even if they are healthy. So I only had half an avocado (a quarter on each) and it not only gave me less calories but I enjoyed the ratio better. So it doesn't feel I'm denying myself anything, just being more aware.

Sorry, must do paragraphs. That reads very fast.

Happy clucking TheRealHousewife

Just back from my run. Only did 6.44km as missed a bit out but I've already walked over 4km with the dog so I think that's acceptable.

We've got a left over chicken dish for lunch as dh is here and I'm hoping he will have most of it as I really want my salad. With only going to the shop as little as possible he bought three bags of salad leaves and I forgot about them so want to eat them before they go slimy.

Waiting for GP to ring to explain about DS cancelled referral and then I'll shower, wrap some presents and do some hoovering and washing.

sunshinecake
Well done on the run and the walk.
If you ever have just about to turn salad bags, Jack monroe dies a great salad bag pesto. I made it with a few variations in the summer and it was delicious. I had it on toast.

Thank you. I'll have a look.

Yeah the overnight fasting has been great, I seem to be a lot less hungry in general which is a massive change for me. I do 7 to 11 or 12 depending in the day. I also cut my coffee intake, as was drinking far too much black coffee which was affecting my sleep. So just have 1 latte a day with full fat milk and enjoy it! I have upped veg and protein intake.

Typically eating natural yoghurt w/ berries for breakfast (if I have breakfast), then salad with protein for lunch and then "normal" dinner but no carbs, eg steak w/ veg, roast w/ veg, omelette w/ salad, homemade burger w/ salad, salmon w/ veg...

Am struggling with drinking water, taking exercise and cutting out wine! Also get tempted by normal yoghurt and choc!

@slightlybonkers one of my interim measures when moving from sweet flavoured yogurt to full fat Greek yoghurt was to add a tsp of honey and a couple of crushed pecans. It mitigated some of the sourness of the yoghurt, made it sweet and tasty but it was all good stuff.

Ok dramatic turn of events at work, basically after the disaster of a call yesterday, I sent an email to my manager and his manager about my stress and about how unacceptable it was to accuse me of being a bully and to speak to me in the way he did.

I now have a new manager! No idea if anything is happening to twatbag and don't really care, I now have a manager who is a decent human being and who I can talk to and respect 😁

Hurrah @FatGirlShrinking

Well done @FatGirlShrinking, brilliant result!

Marvellous result @FatGirlShrinking you won’t have been the only one he was bullying! Hope the new boss is up to the job!

Wonderful news @FatGirlShrinking!

Can I also share mine? GP rang and DS is okay! Nothing to worry about anymore. Huge relief here.

Fantastic @SunshineCake a good all round!

Wonderful news @SunshineCake

Brilliant @SunshineCake:)

Excellent news @SunshineCake